BREAKING NEWS! Cardinal Nichols Changes His Tone!

As many of our readers know, Cardinal Nichols of Westminster isn’t always the most honest, tasteful, or concise member of the College of Cardinals, and recently many of his priests have offered him a vote of no confidence by publishing a letter in which they demand that the next Synod in Rome remain firm on doctrine. (You can read about the letter and his Eminence’s response thereto here.) Such a response is not surprising insofar as the Holy Father has now opened the floodgates for public debate and thereby granted conservatives and traditionalists license to imitate their liberal brethren by publicly airing their minds. Happily, it happens that Cardinal Nichols has now himself learnt a lesson from the priests of his diocese who were bold enough to sign the letter and has in fact changed his tone. In October last year, Nichols published a pastoral letter in which he speaks of the Synod approvingly and with relish. (It may be read here.) Now it seems his Eminence has learnt something of the preconciliar art of concision, precision, and brevity, and publicly changed his mind by publishing a revision, which may be read below. 

The full, revised text of Cardinal Vincent Nichols’ Pastoral Letter is as follows:

To all our brethren and spiritual subjects in Christ, both laics and clerks:

During this season of Lent wherein our holy Mother the Church ever exhorts her children unto increased vigilance, prayer, and penance, our grief and sadness compel us to make known unto you, dear brethren, the machinations of the recent Extraordinary Synod of Bishops held in Rome on the theme of the tribulations afflicted upon the family in these foul days of ours. Although fain would we have abstained from such a conventicle of many who have fallen from the sweetness of truth, duty bade us stay and offer unto God the sacrifices of a heart contrite and pierced by the infidelity of so many of our fellow churchmen.

As you have heard or read, many of the Synod fathers were intent upon changing the teaching of the Church (which God forbid!) on marriage and family life. Such, alas, is the case. Superficially, the enemies of truth discussed questions of ‘pastoral care’ that the Church with maternal solicitude ever owes to repentant sinners. Such was all for the good. The primal error afflicting nearly all, however, was the intentionally willed ambiguity whereby almost none distinguished between the repentant and the unrepentant. Whereas the Church must always offer care for the sick of soul, that she might cure the spiritually infirm all the more, from time to time she must rebuke the proud and prod the unrepentant to turn and believe. The universal call to repentance was, we must report, sadly lacking from the Synod Fathers, especially those from Germany. Such widespread lack of faith, is especially disheartening as we consider the ever increasing number of listless souls for whom Christ died, yet who know him not; or who know him, yet love him not.

You may also have heard that the Holy Father was disappointed at the Synod’s outcome. At present, we are not altogether sure what the Supreme Pontiff’s attitude towards the Synod proceedings were or whether he was satisfied with its work. We were, however, taken aback at his refusal or at least unwillingness to reveal his own mind as to what precisely he would have done.

At Synod’s end, Pope Francis spoke at length about his joy, satisfaction, and frustration with its work. He told the assembled Fathers to take to heart how Divine Providence had touched the Synod through its proceedings, and to see how we may have been tempted to reject the promptings of the Holy Ghost. The Synod, he insisted, must needs be a spiritual journey, not a debating chamber. Yet debating is so often all we did. Our “journey” was nothing but a facile glance and glib perusal at some of the trials afflicting the family in the contemporary world. With the desultoriness of chimpanzees, certain speakers moved from topics like concubinage, polygamy, and whoring, to fornication, adultery, and even the sin against nature, with seemingly little cognizance that for sins such as these, innumerable sinners fail to attain salvation. The vagueness of the proceedings and the sins it refused to name was, at times, intolerable.

In the course of the proceedings, the Synod Fathers contributed to the veritable deluge of mindless dribble that passes these days for so-called ‘magisterial’ texts, which seek to appease all by saying little. By the end, it seems, the German revisionists and their allies had hit their mark and drafted the 'Synod Report' on which the Synod Fathers voted, paragraph by paragraph. Quite simply, the votes indicate the gap between the many who have rejected the faith once delivered and those who have remained firm. Unfortunately, this Report now constitutes the matrix from which will emerge the next Synod to be held this October on the predictably ambiguous theme of 'The Vocation and Mission of the Family Today'.

At the end of the Synod, in his closing address, Pope Francis said this: 'Dear brothers and sisters, now we still have one year to mature, with true spiritual discernment, the proposed ideas and find concrete solutions to so many difficulties and innumerable challenges that families must confront; to give answers to the many discouragements that surround and suffocate families......May the Lord accompany us and guide us in this journey for the glory of His Name.'

That, apparently, is what our loyalty to the Supreme Pontiff requires of us in this present moment. It is our earnest hope, in the meanwhile, to exhort you, faithful souls, during this Lenten season to join your hearts and minds to our Crucified Lord, stretched and nailed, rejected, dying, and alone, who is offered in every Mass and ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, that he avert from us the full measure of the Father’s wrath stirred up by the willful impenitence of wretched and degenerate men who prefer the path of perdition to peace.

With our Apostolic Benediction, we remain

Yours devotedly,

X Cardinal Vincent Nichols

Archbishop of Westminster

CDF Archbishop Mueller to Tackle LGBT-Masses

(Vatican) The New Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine and the Faith Gerhard Ludwig is determined to end the problem of Mass for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transexuals. The offensive event is offered two times every month in a Novus Ordo Eucharist in Warwick Street in the London district of Soho. The Homosexual-celebration takes place with the approval of the current Archbishop of Westminster, Msgr Vincent Nichols.

London LGBT-Mass with the Approval of Archbishop Nichols

London Catholics have turned after futile attempts to address the Ordinary, to Rome.  Several contacts in the Roman Curia have shown themselves concerned by the action and have looked for an explanation of the London Andersrum-Service.  Thereupon, the principle aspects were discussed principally in terms concerning pastoral validity and a ghettoization within the Church, if such specifically prescribed group-services are celebrated.

Catholics Pray the Rosary at the Church -- Their Petitions Unheard

London Catholics were especially offended by the form in which the Mass was celebrated. In a petition already sent a long time previously to Archbishop Nichols,  several Roman Congregations were made aware, that they complained that in the preaching, the condition of homosexuality was justified and with that there was a position taken which contradicts the teaching of the Church.  The Catholics then complained that with every positive approach toward pastoral support of people with homosexual inclinations it will then be nullified.  The Catholic teaching of penance, contrition and forgiveness  is not taught, but the "otherness" is celebrated  as being-as-it-is.

In the Catholic Church in Warwick Street there are significant portrayals of the rainbow flag of the homosexuals.  The rainbow flag, originally portrayed representing God's manifestation in the rainbow as a symbol of peace,  has been usurped by homosexual groups in recent years to be perceived as a militant symbol of an offensive homosexual movement.

Altars and Holy Statues Draped with Flags and Banners

The Catholics of the English capital complained in their petition that numerous flags and banners of dubious content were draped over crosses, altars, Mary and Saints statues and other religious symbols in the Church.   Most were  encouraging transvestites and transexuals to declare themselves.

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory is covered in a dazzling twice a month, so that it veils from the faithful,   not only the Catholic Faith, but also a holy place.  As there is no one among the authorities, neither pastor, nor Archbishop to whom the faithful can give an ear but to "hustle and bustle", the faithful have resorted to self-help.   They gather during the homo-Masses in front of the church and on the street and pray the rosary as a sign of disapproval, above all in any case as a gesture of reparation.

Archbishop Nichols Confirmed the Homo-Mass in February

Archbishop Nichols confirmed first in February 2012 the intention, to continue "pastoral care for Catholics with same-sex orientation" in the church on Warwick Street.  The action was brought to life under his predecessor Cardinal Cormack Murphy O'Connor.  On the internet site of the Archdiocese  corresponding documents by Cardinal Murphy O'Connor and Cardinal Basil Hume are exhibited. The pastoral reality looks however clearly different.  At the yearly "Gay Pride" there is a "Pride Mass" celebrated in Warwick Street for interested participants from the Gay Pride March through London.  "The spectacle which is played out in our church is revolting", complained a Catholic from Soho.

In Great Britain as in several states in the western world the relatively small homo-lobby attempts, supported by strong left-Liberal powers to introduce legal equality of homosexual-"marriage" and the right of adoption.  The "Soho-Masses" will be seen as a part of this homosexualization of society, which have introduced themselves into the Catholic Church,  which shows the most resistance to the attack on marriage and family, on children and the social order.  The question of the LGBT-Mass of Soho has then a religious dimension in relation to Catholic doctrine, evangelization and pastoral care, but even a political dimension.

Anglican "Concurence" influences the Catholic Ordinary

In nearby St. Anne Church, there is also Anglican "competition" with extended pastoral "services" for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals. A "competition" that is not of the praying in front of the Catholic Church Catholics understood as such, but which was perceived at the diocesan level and has contributed to the establishment of a Catholic "counter offer".

From Rome, Archbishop Nichols, who is among the contenders for Cardinal, already suggested several times to act cautiously and complies with his duty of supervision. He was also warned that Rome would otherwise take over the duty of monitoring. The "advice" has recently have become more intense, because recently, the Archbishop of Westminster has publicly stated that everyone should be careful not to judge others.

Cardinal Levada let the matter sleep - Mueller wants to act

The former Prefect of the CDF, William Cardinal Levada, who asked in 2011 to be released from office for health reasons, let the matter lie in the final months of his term. His successor, the new Prefect of the CDF, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, wants to clarify the matter, however, and with determination, because the case is not as isolated as Soho. There are other churches in other countries, where dubious gay counseling takes place.

The homosexual issue is a hot button issue for the Church. It has developed into one of the major challenges for the Church and a central point of attack against the Church the last 15 years.  Self-conscious homosexuals want to rebuild society, but they also wish to alter the legal order and to overcome the Christian teaching on homosexuality. In the last year, the appointment of Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki as Archbishop of Berlin was perceived in the national media almost exclusively in terms of the gay question. That's surely the case because of the media's reportage, but it is also due to the contorted, rarely clear words of religious leaders with which they represent the Catholic Faith and the Catholic position.

Link to original...

Resistance to Instruction On the Way: Archbishop Nichols Looking for Loopholes

The problem is real: one must keep the Diocesan Seminarians in the dark about the Old Mass.  Otherwise, they won't be fobbed off with the desacralized ceremonies of the Novus Ordo.

Archbishop Nichols in Westminster in London

(kreuz.net, London) The Old Liberal Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster in London has expressed his opposition to the instruction 'Universae Ecclesia' over the management of the Old Mass. This was according to the British weekly magazine, 'Catholic Weekly'.

The fear is understandable

Msgr Nichols commented about the demand made by the Instruction, where Seminarians must be instructed with the Old Mass.

The Archbishop stoled a march on the wishy-washy formulation of the Instruction, which identified, the bloviation of "pastoral considerations"

21. Ordinaries are asked to offer their clergy the possibility of acquiring adequate preparation for celebrations in the forma extraordinaria. This applies also to Seminaries, where future priests should be given proper formation, including study of Latin8 and, where pastoral needs suggest it, the opportunity to learn the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite.

From this he concluded that the expressions concerning this instruction are "provisional" and "not absolute".

His conclusion: "Personally I don't beleive that the already full seminary programme should be added to."

It follows a notion that there is the possibility to learn the Old Mass later in the priestly life.

The Archbishop's fear of the Old Mass is understandable.

In the Seminaries there is a dangerous concurrence that the banal rites of the Novus Ordo will suffer from.

Why doesn't the Vatican Speak Clearly?

Number 21 of the Instruction about the Old Mass is more precisely formulated in the Latin than it is in the English version.

The Latin original original text orders the Bishops with the adverb 'enixe" -- or seriously, to educate their seminarians in the Old Rite.

„21 – Ordinarii enixe rogantur ut clericis instituendis occasionem praebeant accommodatam artem celebrandi in forma extraordinaria acquirendi, quod potissimum pro Seminariis valet, in quibus providebitur ut sacrorum alumni convenienter instituantur, Latinum discendo sermonem et, adiunctis id postulantibus, ipsam Ritus Romani formam extraordinariam.“

This Adverb in the English or German translation is simply omitted.

Is there a Need?

Msgr Nichols mentioned moreover, that the Archdiocese of Westminster have asked their priests if they want to learn the Old Mass.

"Many" would have announced themselves.

That's how he has discovered the "need" for the Old Mass in his Archdiocese.

Link to original, kreuz.net...


Photo: © Catholic Church (England and Wales), CC